


baseball gloves

by angelsprunch



Series: losers friendships [3]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 12:00:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12653142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsprunch/pseuds/angelsprunch
Summary: when eddie dies he gets to see stan again





	baseball gloves

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to explore the dynamic between eddie and stan !! let me know what you think !! check me out @ georgiesdenbrough

_ “Don’t call me Eds. You know I… I…” _

 

It rang through Eddie’s head as he closed his eyes and felt darkness envelop him. When he opened his eyes again, Eddie was met with a bright blue sky and the sight of a curly haired boy who looked to be about twelve years old. The first thing he did was check his arms and Eddie was surprised to see that they were both there. Perhaps it was all a dream, but that didn’t make sense for why Eddie was waking up in what looked like a park. He had fallen asleep in a bed in a hotel in Derry. He also began to wonder where everyone else was. Perhaps he dreamed it all and he was waking up in Derry as a twelve year old once more. He glanced at the arm he broke when he was twelve and saw the scar on his arm from the broken bone. Eddie sighed and sat up, pleased to notice that there was no wedding ring on his finger. Although his hands looked much smaller.

 

“Come over here.” The curly haired boy called, his back to Eddie. The voice was familiar to him and the familiarity made him trust it. He was nervous, though, not sure what was really going on. The aspiratory that sat in his fanny pack was now being held in his hands as Eddie approached the boy. Once he was seated, Eddie inspected the arm that he thought he lost. This time when he looked, though, he saw that it was no longer there. A scream ripped through his body, but familiar hands fell on his legs and Eddie turned to find himself staring at Stanley Uris.

 

“It doesn’t hurt.”

 

“What do you mean it doesn’t hurt? My fucking arm is gone.”

 

“It doesn’t hurt.”

 

With that, Stan guided Eddie’s aspirator back to his mouth and helped him take a pull of the medicine. As he calmed down, he realized that his friend was right. He couldn’t really feel anything. He watched where Stan’s hand was covering his own and a frown crossed his features as he realized that he couldn’t feel that simple contact. “It doesn’t hurt.” he mumbled, staring at Stan. “Why can’t I feel it? Why can’t I feel this?”

 

“Because you’re not alive, Eddie.”

 

“What do you-- I’m not-- What the  _ fuck _ .”

 

“Stop that. You’re overeacting.”

 

“I’m  _ dead _ . Are you dead, too?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And you don’t care?”

“I knew I was going to die.”

 

Slowly it came back to Eddie. The more he heard Stan speak, the more he remembered. He had died in a sewer because that  _ fucking _ clown ripped off his arm. They were adults when he died and they had come back to fight that clown. They had all come back to fight It except for Stan. Stan had killed himself before any of them arrived in Derry. Eddie slumped his shoulders and turned his hand so he could intertwine his fingers with Stan’s. Neither of them could feel the touch, but the sentiment was there.

 

“Why didn’t you come back?”

 

“I couldn’t handle it. I never really forgot.”

 

“I still haven’t remembered it all.”

 

“It’s better that way.”

 

Eddie fell silent and stared at the grass by their feet. He vaguely remembered them all playing in this playground as children. It still looked the same as it had when they were all kids. Eddie wondered if this was all the same as it was when they were kids. He sighed and scooted closer to Stan. Part of Eddie wanted to be mad at Stan for not coming back with them, but he understood why the other boy didn’t.

 

“What kind of a life did you have?”

 

“I got married. I lived in Georgia. I was an accountant. My parents were happy with what I became, I married a good Jewish girl. We met at a college party.”

 

“I was married.”

 

“You weren’t happy in the marriage.”

 

“No.”

 

Another silence fell and Stan got up from where they were sitting. Eddie watched as Stan’s hand went through his own, but he scrambled up to follow him. The scene around the seemed to fade away and before Eddie could really process what was going on, he saw Stan sitting down on some rocks by the quarry. He seemed to sense the questions that Eddie was about to ask and pointed to the water in front of them. Eddie listened, quietly and sat beside Stan. He was about to ask his questions, but he followed his friend’s gaze to the water and realized that in the reflection he could see the losers as adults in the sewers.

 

“Do you know what’s going to happen?”

“Hopefully they win. If not, we’ll be getting company.”

 

“Have you been watching us since you died?”

 

“Someone’s got to.”

 

“How did you-- What happened?”

 

“Mike called, which was hard enough on it’s own. I know that when we all split up you felt something missing from your life as you forgot about Richie. I never forgot about Mike, but I had to move beyond that. I thought I had when I met Patty. I thought I moved past it all when I started a life of my own. His voice brought it all to the forefront of my memory, though. I don’t remember much after the phone call. I know that I slit my wrists, though. I remember as I was dying I wrote on the bathroom wall. I wrote “It” in my blood.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I needed someone to know. I needed them to know that that decision wasn’t only mine.”

 

“I don’t blame you for not coming back.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Do we have to watch this?”

 

“Do you not want to?”

 

“I don’t want to see my friends die.”

 

Stan simply nodded and stood up once again. He held his hands behind his back and Eddie did the same, copying his friend. This was all so bizarre for Eddie, but it felt right to have Stan helping him through it. When Stan brought his hands back around to the front of him there was a baseball glove on his hand and a baseball in his other. Eddie brought his hands around to the front of him and a surprise smile bloomed on his face when he saw a baseball glove on his hand as well. He took a few steps back so there was more room for the boys to play catch. Sure, he missed doing this with his best friend but perhaps now his asthma wouldn’t plague them. The two stood playing catch for what felt like forever as they shared memories.

 

“How did your wife feel about your weird sense of humor?”

 

“Patty never really heard my jokes. I think those died in the barrens. Do you still laugh when you get hurt?”

 

“Yeah. It really freaked Myra out.”

 

“It would have freaked Richie out, too.”

 

“It definitely freaked Bowers out. Do you see him around here?”

 

“No. I don’t want to.”

 

“How does this work?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Do you want to?”

 

“I’m figuring it out a bit more as time goes on.”

 

The longer they played, the more they talked. Stan would share stories from college and talk about what life was like in Georgia while Eddie would talk about crazy customers and life in the city. The more they talked, the more they realized how much they missed each other. Maybe the best years of their life came from when the losers were all together, except for the parts with It. Stan wasn’t keeping track of how long they played and Eddie didn’t care. They played and talked until the other losers showed up. They laughed and shared jokes, smiling as they talked about how the others would react. Eddie and Stan saw snapshots of the loser’s lives while they were still alive and when they showed up, they welcomed their friends with open arms.


End file.
